When Neighborhoods Gentrify, Why Aren’t Their Public Schools Improving? – “The ups and downs of gentrification have been chronicled thoroughly, but one of its consequences hasn’t been widely addressed: the effect on neighborhood schools when a critical mass of well-educated, well-off people move in. Gentrification usually brings some benefits with it to a neighborhood, such as more attention from the city—as Spike Lee noted, suddenly the trash gets picked up! But does an influx of children from wealthier families make a positive difference to local public schools?”

Physical Therapy May Help For Back Pain, But Time Works Best – The most important part of the article is this: “Although this study found that physical therapy doesn’t have a statistically significant effect on lower-back pain, it can still impact the patients going through it, Fritz says. ‘People who feel that they’re being treated and cared for will improve a bit more rapidly regardless of what’s actually being provided to them.’ And while we’ve traditionally labeled that as a placebo effect, part of medical treatment is about allowing patients to feel more optimistic because they’re being helped. ‘And that’s not something we should try to limit,’ Fritz says. ‘It’s indeed something we should try to maximize and take advantage of.’ “

Girls Of Brazil Face Slurs And Taunts If They Play Soccer: #15Girls – “So on a recent steamy Rio de Janeiro night, a group of girls are engaging in a subversive act. They’re kicking a soccer ball on a kind of a poured concrete basketball court surrounded by a high chain link fence. It looks more like a cage than a soccer field. But it’s all they have in this neighborhood in Rocinha, one of the city’s biggest favelas, or shantytowns, home to about 150,000 residents.”

The complex nature of GMOs calls for a new conversation – “Most recently, the director of a science communications program asked if I could engage her students on a few topics: Is there a scientific consensus on GMOs? How is the media doing when it comes to covering biotech in the food system? Where are the biases and blind spots in reporting?” I thought this article had a lot of good points and that GMOs are not just a black-and-white issue. What do you think of this?

Mary

Mary Brock is a scientist who works on drugs you've hopefully never heard of. She enjoys cooking to Blue Grass music, messing with her cats, and hosting the Boston Skeptics' Book Club. She was born in the South but loves living in New England (despite the lack of chocolate chip pizza). Mary does not use Twitter and don't even try to follow her, because she is always looking over her shoulder.

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The Skepchick Network is a collection of smart and often sarcastic blogs focused on science and critical thinking. The original site is Skepchick.org, founded by Rebecca Watson in 2005 to discuss women’s issues from a skeptical standpoint.